Excerpted from 2025 Lenten Guide: The Year of the Lord, a Lenten Guide for Lectionary Year C from the North Carolina Council of Churches.
Isaiah 58: 1-12
Shout out; do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they want God on their side.
“Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day
and oppress all your workers.
You fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.”
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your needs in parched places
and make your bones strong,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, historically a season of fasting and repentance. Fasting during Lent is often seen as a time to give something up—whether it’s a treat, a bad habit, or something we feel is holding us back from the flourishing life God wants us to have. As a teenager, I often gave up soda for Lent since it was good for my health during soccer season and also a tangible way to feel like a “devout” Christian. Fasting, however, that is self-focused is different from the fast that God chooses. Isaiah’s words for us today are a powerful reminder of the fasting God desires.
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin? (Isaiah 58:6-7)
These verses critique fasting that is merely ritualistic and outwardly performed, fasting that lacks a corresponding commitment to justice, compassion, and community care. The people addressed by Isaiah are food fasting while they continue their oppression and unjust behavior. They may be abstaining from certain foods for particular time periods, but they are not addressing systemic issues of injustice or showing compassion to anyone else.
This Ash Wednesday and through the following season of Lent, may our fasting not be a self-improvement exercise, but instead a time of turning toward activities that loose the bonds of injustice and set the oppressed go free.
Consider fasting from Amazon purchases and, instead, shop locally. Fast from spending money with companies who use exploitative labor practices and, instead, support businesses accredited as Fair Trade, B-Corp, or part of the Fair Labor Association. Fast from social media platforms that are profiting from division, misinformation, and exploitation and, instead, invest in personal relationships with neighbors both new and old.
When the people repent and turn toward justice, God promises healing, restoration, and a renewed relationship. There will be light in the darkness, and God will guide and strengthen us. Let’s embrace that fast.
